Bill Would Hike Taxes on North Nodaway Wind Farms

A bill filed by Rep. Danny Busick (R-Newtown) would hike taxes for farmers who participate in wind or solar energy projects, the Missouri Independent reports. This would directly affect the wind farms west of Hopkins and Pickering, the ones near Conception, and the ones near King City. It would triple the assessment rate for agricultural land that hosts energy infrastructure.

Busick, as quoted in the Independent, said it was a matter of fairness. He said that when you repurpose your land for purposes outside farming, that landowners should have to pay their fair share. The bill would not apply to land where corn or soybeans are cultivated for biofuel production. 

Scott Swain of the Clean Grid Alliance, as quoted in the Independent, said, “They’re putting a lot of money into communities and so we don’t want to necessarily tax them out. If we do want to tax them out, then we need to raise the tax and nobody will come to the state, and that will probably settle a lot of concerns. I don’t think that’s where we want to go.”